关于no more + 形容词 + than这一结构的含义

关于no more + 形容词 + than这一结构的含义，国内普遍有这样一种说法：

A is no more＋形容词＋than＋B 意为“A和B都不…”

例如：

[1] He is no taller than I.= He is as short as I

[2] This room is no cleaner than that one.= This room is as dirty as that one.

这种说法是有依据的，例如：

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(1) 章振邦《新编高级英语语法》p682

[3] Mary is no wiser than Jane.

句子含义侧重于"玛丽和简一样不聪明"，也就是说"一样笨"。

no better than = as bad as (一样坏)

no wiser than = as stupid as (一样笨)

no richer than = as poor as (一样穷)

no bigger than = as small as (一样小)

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(2) R. Quirk et al., A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language, 15.70

When more is an adverb (or its inflectional variant -er is used), no more ... than has special implications.

Consider:

[3] Rachel is no more courageous than Saul (is).

The sentence implies that both Rachel and Saul are not courageous (‘Rachel is not courageous, any more than Saul is courageous’). Here are some further examples:

[4] Tom is no more athletic than he ever was. [‘Tom is not athletic, any more than he ever was athletic’]

[5] I can no more apologize than I could kneel to them.

[6] I would no more think of hitting a student than I would a policeman.

No more ... than has the same meaning when more modifies a tradable noun:

[7] She is no more a fool than you (are). [‘She is not a fool, any more than you are’, ‘She is not more foolish...’]

[8] They are no more scholars than my baby (is). [‘They are no more scholarly ...’]

The rhetorical effect of the construction is not so much to make a comparison as to intensify the negation. That effect is most obvious when the comparison is absurd.

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但是对于下面这样的句子：

[9] John is no more stupid than his brother -- they simply can't be more stupid.

[10] I'm no more intelligent than the next guy. I'm just more curious.  (Albert Einstein)

如果把[9]中的no more stupid than解释为as intelligent as，而把[10]中的no more intelligent than解释为as stupid as，句子的意思就很荒谬了。

[9]的意思是说John和他兄弟都愚蠢至极，没有谁比谁更蠢这个说法，更不表示Both of them are not stupid；而[10]中爱因斯坦也不过只是想强调自己不比别人更聪明，并没有The next guy is stupid.的潜台词。这两个句子都是经过很多母语者验证过的，并没有语法上的问题。

这样的句子很好地说明了一点问题：no more + adjective + than这样的结构在没有语境的情况下，并不一定要按照1中的说法来理解，而可能有其它的含义。

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下面是一道专四题：

This idea is no more creative than that one. This sentence means that:

A. Both the ideas are creative.

B. This idea is less creative than that one.

C. Both the ideas aren't creative.

D. The idea is as creative as that one.

【参考答案】C

【解析】no more ... than为固定词组，意为"和...一样不..."，表示否定两者。注意与not more ... than区分开来，指"不如...."，表示否定前者，肯定后者。

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我们将这个问题拿去咨询母语者，得到的回复是这样的：

(1) 英国伦敦lingobingo: 

It doesn't really mean any of those options. It means what it says.

This idea is no more creative than that one.

This new idea is not any more creative than the old one.

The old idea is creative. So is the new one -- but it's no more creative. There's nothing to choose between them

(2) 英国伦敦Jimbo_Disco:

It doesn't necessarily mean that neither is creative -- it just means that they are both on an equal level of creativity -- they could both be extraordinary creative, or they could be averagely ceative, or not at all creative.

(3) 美国东北部Roxxxannne:

The difference between 

A) 'these ideas are on an equal level of creativity' and 

B) 'this idea is no more creative than that one' is often in the context on which they are used.

B is a negation of the implied comparison that 'this idea is more creative than that one.'

The same is true for 'she's no slimmer than I was at her age.' This is a negation of the implied comparison that 'she is more slim than I was at her age.'

Both sentences mean the same thing: these ideas or our bodies are equally creative or equally slim, as others have said.

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而对于下面这两句话：

[11] Drinking juice is no better than drinking soda.

[12] Drinking juice is not better than drinking soda.

母语者的评价是:

(1) 美国科罗拉多州owlman5:

Saying "Drinking juice is no better than drinking soda" makes perfect sense when you are saying that soda quenches thirst just as well as juice does.

(2) 美国阿肯色州Forero:

Both sentences deny that drinking juice might be better than drinking soda, so both may express the same objective reality.

But there is a difference of nuance: "Not better" compares reality to "better" and says it is not so, that drinking juice may be worse than or equally as good as drinking soda, but "no better" compares reality to "much better" or "a little better" and is not really concerned about "better" compared to "worse".

The difference in nuance is the same whether no/not better means "no/not better for quenching thirst", "no better an idea/not a better idea", "no/not better nutritionally", or something else.

The sentences can of course be used ironically, sarcastically, or whatever, but that has to be determined from the context and tone of voice. It is not apparent in the wording of either sentence.

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甚至还有的母语者直接反驳了Quirk书中的说法：

[3] Rachel is no more courageous than Saul (is).

The sentence implies that both Rachel and Saul are not courageous (‘Rachel is not courageous, any more than Saul is courageous’).

英国伦敦Jimbo_Disco:

No, it doesn't - it simply implies that Rachel and Saul are on an equal level of courageousness, which could be anything from extremely courageous to not courageous at all. Sometimes the problem with grammar books (especially the most 'trustworthy' ones) is that they don't always reflect actual contemporary usage of the language! Often with English there is a huge difference between what is grammatically correct and idiomatically correct, which must be so annoying for learners!

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此外还有很多母语者的观点，我们就不详细列举。总之，他们的观点大概是这样：

(1) not more ... than强调less .... than or equally ... as而no more ... than一般是对于much better, a little better之类看法的否定，一般强调almost the same。

(2) no more ... than可以修辞性地表示both are not...，但并不是说no more ... than都表示both are not...，具体含义需要根据语境确定。

(3) 有的母语者认为no more ... than和not more ... than并没有很大的区别，而且他们倾向于使用no more ... than。

我们认为(2)这一点十分重要。国内目前对于no more ... than的理解似乎已经固化为both are not...。如果按照这样的理解，就会把[9][10]翻译成：

[9] 约翰和他的兄弟都不蠢 --- 他们都蠢得不能再蠢了。

[10] 我和其他人都很愚笨。我只是更有好奇心罢了。

这种翻译显然是成问题的。这里应该理解为：

[9] 约翰并不比他的兄弟蠢 -- 他们都蠢得不能再蠢了。

[10] 我不比其他人聪明。我只是更有好奇心罢了。

赵振才还在《英语常见问题解答大词典》第963页做出过这样的答疑：

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【问】

This book is no more expensive than that one. (ALD)

[原译] 这本书并不比那本贵。（《牛津高阶英汉双解词典》，商务印书馆，p994）

从译文看，no more expensive than和not more expensive than是毫无区别的。是这样吗？

【答】

从结构上看，no more expensive than与no better(larger,wider) than是相同的，因此，其含义在于强调expensive的反面性质——“便宜”。译文未把这层含义翻译出来。究其原因是译者忽略了not more expensive than与no more expensive than之间的语义差别，请对比：

(a) John is not more diligent than his brother. 约翰没有他兄弟用功。

(b) John is no more diligent than his brother. 约翰跟他兄弟一样不用功。

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我们认为，词典的原译是准确而没有偏见的，而赵振才的理解是片面的。见下面朗文词典中的说法：

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, 词条more:

[13] Selling goods abroad is no more difficult(= not more difficult) than selling to the home market.

不知道各位老师的意见如何呢？